Government Issues

FRA launches rail crossing safety app

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) launched an iOS smartphone mobile application, the "Rail Crossing Locator," which provides the public with easy access to safety information about the nation’s more than 200,000 highway-rail grade crossings.

The Rail Crossing Locator app works by prompting users to enter a specific location, which then allows them to locate highway-rail grade crossings in their area and retrieve important information, such as the physical characteristics of a crossing and the type of traffic control devices used.

The app allows users to report information about grade crossings to the FRA to ensure the most accurate and up-to-date information is available. This new app is free through Apple’s App Store and can be used on any iPhone or iPad.

Over the past decade, highway-rail incidents have declined by 34%, and deaths resulting from these events have fallen 30%. However, while the total number of incidents has been trending downward, collisions at highway-rail crossings remain a challenge to safety. Last year alone, highway-rail crossing collisions accounted for nearly 20% of all reportable rail accidents and incidents and represented nearly one-third of all rail-related fatalities.

The continuing decline in crossing incidents, injuries and fatalities is attributable to ongoing multifaceted public education efforts, engineering approaches to improve grade crossing safety and enforcement efforts carried out by FRA, railroads, states, localities, Operation Lifesaver Inc. and other partners.

As lawmakers try to fund transportation beyond May 31, GROW AMERICA provides members of the House and Senate with the option of increasing investment in surface transportation by 45%, and supporting millions of jobs repairing and modernizing roads, bridges, railroads and transit systems in urban, suburban and rural communities.

The study found that lower-wage workers often endure the most brutal commutes, and the findings suggest a need for workplace policies that help to balance work and family life, in addition to better investment in our mass transit system.

The conference agenda is currently being developed by a team of industry experts and will cover five key areas: community outreach and education; enforcement; design, technology and infrastructure; intentional acts/deaths; and pedestrian safety.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies, led a bipartisan letter to the THUD Subcommittee with 10 members of the Illinois House delegation urging full funding for mass transit and passenger rail in next year’s THUD budget.

The proposed cuts represent a 45% decrease in CTA state funding or a $130 million cut; a 60% decrease in Metra state funding or a $20.8 million cut; a 41% decrease in Pace state funding or a $10 million cut; and a 15% decrease in ADA paratransit state funding or $8.5 million cut.